The Riseing Wind
by Jayfeattheris Awesome
Summary: Uncle Thorin has told Fili and Kili that dragons are evil. That they must be killed. But one day, both of them must go against everything that their uncle has taught them in the hopes of a new ally. But is sparing a newborn dragonet they find in the woods the right thing to do? And when the time comes, will she spare them as well? Or are all dragons as Thorin says they are? K - T
1. Chapter 1

_The summer night air was crisp with the scent of lush leaves fresh from spring, and apples hung off of a tree nearby the small gray boulder with a large, white stone leaning up against it. A large pond with water gurgling into it from a small river had kept the grass in the small clearing lush and green, with small white flowers scattered across the area._

_Suddenly, faint tapping noises came from the white stone, and it began to crack. The stone looked old, and was covered in dust, dirt, and small bits of plant growth that had made its way up the stone over time. A small bit of the stone cracked and chipped off, and a small white head poked out and cried out feebly. _

_The small creature struggled for a little bit, but then the weak shell collapsed, and the newborn dragonet tumbled onto the grass, covered in slime, and unmoving. Several hours past, and the only sign that the hatchling was alive was the faint rise and fall of her stomach as she breathed, which was getting visibly weaker._

_A figure entered the clearing, seeming out of place among the greenery of the forest. She was an elf with pale hair, and a pure white gown that dragged along the ground. She made her way over to the boulder, and crouched down beside the white dragonet._

_ "__You are pure. You are something new in a world that is on the hinge of falling into darkness that is only beginning to gather. For every dark thing, there is a light, even though some are blind to it. All is pure once, but then tainted, though not all pure things need fade away." She murmured placing a hand on the hatchling's neck. The baby dragon let out a peaceful sigh, and shifted into a position that made her look as it she was sleeping._

_ "__You will be great, though the light will be hard for some to find." The elf said, smiling._

_The elf got up, and made her way back to the trees, turning to glance over her shoulder at the dragonet that now was sleeping peacefully; it's breathing strong, and its legs twitching happily as it dreamed. She smiled, and disappeared into the woods._

_A whisper seemed to follow through the breeze as she left. "The wind will come… One who comes from mountain stone, will help the king reclaim his throne…Made guardian of Durin's folk, will run across the mountain slope… The Wind Is Comeing…"_


	2. A Meeting in the Woods

Now, since a newborn probably doesn't know what a whole lot of things are, I have decided that until the dragonet knows the name of something, she'll be pretty much clueless about what it is. So here is what I am going to call, the Dragonet Translation( **These translations apply for all the chapters were the dragonet is a hatchling**):

**Fuzzy head stuff = hair**

**Floppy skin = bag or satchel**

**Sharp twig = knife**

**Sharprock stick = arrow**

**Hollow boulder = cooking pot and/or bowl**

**Rabbit liquid = rabbit soup**

Kili trudged along after his brother, yawning. They were on the move again for their return journey from a meeting with their uncle, Thorin. The sun wasn't up yet, but the sky was a periwinkle color, and he could see bright orange in half the sky when the trees opened up into a clearing. Fili had insisted they get up before the sunrise in the hopes that they could catch breakfast while it was still sleeping.

Personally, he would rather still be asleep. Getting up early meant getting hungry earlier than if you had woken up late. Thorin had talked about the usual during the meeting. About their inheritance, their ancestry, and all wrapped up with a horrifically long talk about their duties as heirs of Durin. It was fine and all, but sometimes Thorin could get a little obsessed.

Suddenly, Fili stopped, and he almost crashed into him. "Do you hear that?" he asked.

Kili listened, and sure enough, there was the sound of water running through a stream. "Water! Water means food!" Fili exclaimed excitedly, dashing off in the direction of the sound a quietly as he could with all their supplies on his back.

Kili raced after him, and they burst into a green clearing with a pond near the end of it. The water looked safe to drink, so he followed his brother, and they sat by the pond and filled their canteens. The two of them sat there, drinking for a while and eating some dried meat, when a small, pathetic cry went through the air. Stiffening, they both slowly turned around.

Wind. Wind was the first thing she felt, like a blanket of pure joy passing over her and through her scales. Then she heard something, and it was getting louder as it got closer, thumping on the ground in two sets. Then she heard a strange slurping noise, and other things that sounded as if things were bumping together.

Confused, she pushed up with her front paws, and her weak new legs collapsed, and she mewled in frustration. The noises ceased. Then she heard a new sound, one she was even more confused by. She couldn't tell what it was, but it was similar to the sound that she had just made, as if it had a purpose.

"What is that thing?" was what the noise sounded like. Words! The noise was just like thoughts in her head, only she could hear them out loud, and they were coming from something else.

"I don't know, Kili, but it doesn't look good. We should get out of here." Another voice said.

"Right." The first voice agreed.

Panic shot through her. She didn't know why, but the thought of being left on her own in complete silence terrified her. She hadn't been awake for long, but she liked the sound of voices, and the scent of life. There was the sound of rushed bumping and rustling, and then the same noise she had first heard; the bumping, thumping sound. Panicking, she opened her mouth, and tried to form her thoughts into words, but her mouth wouldn't work correctly, and she didn't know how to speak. Instead, what came out was a pathetic, ragged, loud, short cry that seemed a bit too loud for her to have made it, and it hurt her throat.

The thumping noise stopped, and for a moment she thought that whatever had been there was gone, until the thumping resumed, only slower and softer this time, and it seemed to be coming straight towards her this time.

"Kili." The second voice said in a warning tone.

The thumping stopped right in front of her this time, and she suddenly felt even more afraid than before. What if whatever it was wanted to hurt her? She heard a close rustling sound, and then felt something grab her by the sides, and the ground disappeared from underneath her.

Terrified, she forced her eyes open, and the air stung them. Squinting, she tried to get a better look at the thing that had grabbed her. It was a large creature, and floppy stretches of loose, hard-looking material covered it's body. She looked at it's head. It's face was a pale color, and loose strands of a fuzzy-looking material on it's head fell across it's face.

She mewled, and stretched her head forward to try to sniff the fuzzy stuff, snorting in the creature's face by accident as she did so. It pulled it's head back a little, squinting and blowing a strand of fuzzy stuff out of it's face.

"It doesn't look particularly dangerous, Fili. I think were safe." The creature said, looking over it's shoulder as another creature that looked like him, only with yellowish fuzz on it's head instead of black.

"Kili, it's a _baby dragon_, for Durin's sake. If there's a child, the mother's not too far behind. We have to get out of here _now_!" the second creature, who apparently was called Fili, urged.

"I don't think so." Kili replied, looking thoughtful. "This dragonet _just_ opened it's eyes. I can tell be the way it's squinting. That means it's way too young to leave it's parents, and I don't see a nest nearby." He looked around, and then seemed to spot something on the ground behind her. "Look! There's a broken egg, right here. I bet you this dragon only just hatched last night!"

"Good for you. Now just drop the thing, and let's go!" Fili urged again impatiently.

"What! Are you crazy, Fili? It's just a newborn; it won't survive an hour out here." Kili exclaimed.

"Why should we care? It's a dragon. And we're dwarves. Dwarves and dragons just don't go together, especially after what happened with Smaug, and _especially_ considering who our uncle is." Fili told him frustratedly. "That thing will grow up, and then it will kill everything in sight."

"Yes, true." Kili agreed." But if we leave it here to die and it survives, it will remember this day forever and be out for dwarf blood for the rest of it's life."

At this, Fili went silent, looking as if he was thinking about whether or not it was worth the risk.

"Then we'll kill it, and then we never speak of it again. "Fili suggested.

"Fine, then." Kili said flatly, walking over to Fili, placing her on the ground, and handing Fili a thick, sharp twig that he pulled out of a hollow-looking floppy skin that was slug around his shoulder. "Kill it." He ordered a challenge in his eyes.

_Kill? What does "Kill" mean?_ Fili took the sharp twig, looking doubtful, and placed the edge on the back of the base of her neck. It felt sharp and uncomfortable, and she let out a mewl of complaint. Fili flinched as she did so.

"Go on. All you have to do is press down, and then you'll have your own baby dragon head to carry around as a prize, and you can show it to people and tell them, 'Look at this, I killed a baby dragon'." Kili urged scornfully, looking at Fili intensely.

Fili looked as if he was trying not to cry from a heavy wound. "Fine." He seemed to hiss, lifting the sharp twig from her neck. "But we take it someplace far away, where nobody can find it. Especially uncle Thorin."

"I'm pretty sure that it's a she, Fili." Kili told him, his earlier scorn seeming to vanish. He picked her up again, and she squeaked in complaint. She like the company, but she also liked being on the ground. Not up high, were she could fall at any moment, even though Kili seemed to hold her firmly enough that she wouldn't fall.

And she still had no idea what a dragon was, although she was pretty sure that she was a dragon, from the way they had talked about her. And she still didn't know what killing was either, though she was sure it was probably not a good thing by they had talked about it. And what the what was an uncle? Or a she? Or a Thorin( though she knew that a Thorin was also an uncle).?She would definitely like to know what a dwarf, a Smaug, and egg, a Durin, a child, and a parents were. It would be good to know what all of those were.

"There is a valley in the mountains that Thorin told us about during our visit. I was asleep for half of it, but it was something to do with the valley being too hard for supplies carriages to reach if they made a town there. We could take the dragonet there, and then it will hopefully stay as long as the prey is rich." Fili suggested as he put the sharp twig in a floppy skin he had set on the ground.

"Okay then. Did he mentioned where it was, or were you asleep during that part, too? I think I was practically unconscious when he started talking about territories, so I don't have a clue about what you're talking about." Kili asked him, a bit of humor in his voice.

"Yes. I think that from where we are, it'll take about a month or a month and a half to reach it. It should be south of here, as well." Fili told him, looking thoughtful.

"Then lets finish with breakfast, and get going. Hopefully, by the time we get there, the dragonet will be old enough to at least have a chance of surviving on it's own." Kili said, putting her down next to the pond and sitting down. "Toss me you're pack, will you. I think I put my _cram_ in there by accident last night." He asked Fili as he sat down.

Fili set down the large floppy skin on his back(which was called a pack, apparently), and found a smaller, tighter-looking pack in it. He looked at it in distaste. "Oh, yuck, Kili. You are my brother, and I love you, but I have and want no use for your _cram_." He said mournfully, tossing the smaller pack to Kili.

She could tell that whatever _cram_ was, it was not fun, but she was left to wonder about whatever a brother was. Kili opened the small pack, and began munching on a whitish slab of crumbly matter. He broke off a small piece, and sprinkled it into her mouth. The good news: she spat it out immediately. The bad news: she knew what _cram_ tasted like.

Both Fili and Kili laughed. "I seems that even a dragonet knows that _cram_ is unpleasant!" Fili chuckled. "Perhaps, try something not as foul, and that she can eat. She doesn't seem to have any teeth yet."

"All right then. I suppose that we should hunt later, and perhaps make some broth with some of the meat for her to have. I do like the sound of rabbit soup for dinner." Kili agreed.

**Now, It took me about three months to write this and the other chapters I have ready. So I don't want to here any complaining about update times and chapter shortness.**


	3. What it Means to Kill

Fili and Kili sat and ate some _cram_, Kili all the while telling her various things. It was in this way that she learned Fili and Kili were brothers as well as dwarves, and that an uncle was the brother of one's mother, and that, apparently, their uncle, Thorin, was a grump.

"Oh, dear. I do hope that you aren't getting attached to that thing. We aren't keeping her. You sound like mother when she is talking to her cats." Fili warned, a comical whine in his tone. He was beginning to put their things away in their bags.

"All right then. But she has to know _something_ about the world other than the fact that _cram_ is gross." Kili told him, standing up with her still in his arms. "So, almighty valley expert; where do we go next?"

"That way." Fili said, pointing towards a cluster of mountains that looked far off.

"Okay then. Let's start walking." Kili told him, and they set off, walking out of the clearing. She twisted her neck to look over Kili's shoulder at the clearing. She would miss that place, and she had only first laid eyes on it a few minutes ago.

The day went on, and they soon made their way out of the forest as midday approached. It was then that they came across a river that wound its way through a small plain that was dotted with trees and bushes.

Kili stopped abruptly. She looked up at him, and put a finger to his lip to tell her to be quiet. He set her down slowly and motioned for her to stay. He made several hand signals to Fili, and blond dwarf stalked off in the other direction. They sat there, waiting a while, and then she spotted Fili on the other side of the river, signaling to Kili.

Kili nodded, and slowly took two things off that had been attached to his back. One was a long, curved stick with a string going across either end of it, and the other was a short straight stick with a sharp stone on the end of it. The stone was unnaturally sharp, and it shone and glinted in the sun.

Kili then motioned for her to look at something, pointing at her and then to whatever he and Fili had taken such interest in. She looked, and saw a small, gray creature with long ears, whiskers, and a round, fluffy tail.

"That is prey," Kili whispered to her," you hunt it, and then you eat it. This is how Fili and I hunt, but you will be doing it differently. Pay attention to how we kill it, though. The messier the kill, the less food you get."

Kill. There was that word again. Kill. And she had a terrible feeling that she was about to find out what it meant. Fili had wanted to kill her. And she would run all the way back to the clearing just so she wouldn't have to find out what that meant.

Kili put the end of the shorter stick on the string, and pulled back slowly. He nodded, which was obviously a signal to Fili. Fili exploded out of his hiding place in the bushes, yelling. The prey ran, startled, and Kili released his grip on the short stick. The sharp stone struck the prey in the neck, and it collapsed.

She flinched as the creature made a horrible, short screech. It lay unmoving on the ground, and didn't seem to be breathing anymore. It didn't panic when Fili walked up to it an bent down to pick it up in a rather uncomfortable manner.

Fili picked it up by the back legs, and waded through the water to meet his brother. He handed the sharprock stick back to Kili, and held up the prey. "Well, you said you wanted rabbit, Kili. Looks like your wish has been granted." He declared.

The "rabbit" dangled in his grip as he held it up to admire the catch, and she felt a bit ill. It's eyes were dark and lightless. It wasn't alive anymore. _So that's what it means to kill._ And Fili had almost done that to her. She knew now how close she had come to sharing the rabbit's fate.

**Read and review. Also, If you have no idea what something is, just go to chapter two and look at the top of the page for the Dragonet Translation.**


	4. Stories and Bee Hives

They went on until the sun began to set, and then Fili built a pile of logs surrounded by stones, and struck two stones together. She leaped backwards with a squeak of fright as bright orange smoke sprang from the logs. Kili chucked," It's only fire, little one. Do not be afraid. It will keep us all warm through the night; but don't touch it, or you will get burned, which would hurt very much."

A hollow boulder hung above the fire, filled with water, and Fili cut the prey into small strips and dumped it into the boulder. Kili started preparing the sleeping bags, and unrolled a small cloth for the dragonet to sleep under.

Soon, Fili poured the contents of the larger boulder into two smaller ones, and a third one that was about half the size of the other two. He gave her the smallest one, and when she looked in, there was a strange-smelling liquid with bits of rabbit floating in it. The scent made her mouth water, and she lapped it up greedily.

The two dwarves cast her amused looks as they drank their own rabbit liquid. When she had finished licking the inside of the boulder, she looked at them expectantly, hoping for more. "Sorry, dragonet," Fili told her, shrugging "It is already gone. We only had enough for a little bit."

They must have sensed her disappointment, because Kili quickly said, "But come here, and I'll tell you a story. Then you have to go to sleep."

_Story? What's a story? And what's sleep?_ She walked over to him and curled up on the rag he had set out for her, and he began to speak.

"One day, long ago, there was a mighty dwarf kingdom known as Erebor. Erebor was located inside a mountain; the only mountain within a month's journey by horseback, in fact. So the mountain was called The Lonely Mountain. Now, in the mountain, there were special rocks, known as gems. Gems were the most beautiful kind of rock there was, and the other rocks that were plentiful in Erebor were gold and silver. They were shiny, and valuable, and with the gold, silver, and gems, Erebor became very wealthy; but the people also became very greedy. And greed can have dire consequences, especially when it involves gold, silver, and gems." He began.

"Kili, are you sure you should be telling her this? It might give her ideas." Fili warned.

"About what? Only an idiot would go near that mountain these days." Kili retorted.

She lent in closer. What had happened that was so terrible that Fili and Kili thought going near the mountain was a bad idea? She nudged Kili with her snout, urging him to go on.

"One day, the dwarves that looked for the gems and gold found the most beautiful gem of all. The king of Erebor named it The Arkenstone, calling it The Heart of the Mountain. Now, the king was obsessed with gold. A greed sickness had taken over him, and he spent most of his time looking at the gold that his people had collected." Kili continued.

"Now, that much gold attracts attention; unwanted attention at that. Now, one thing that dragons love more than anything else is gold. And one day, a wicked dragon named Smaug attacked the mountain, hoping to get his claws on the treasure inside. He tore the place apart, killing any who got in his way. But before he took the mountain, he attacked a city just outside of it, known as Dale. It was a city of men, and he burned it to the ground before destroying Erebor. That is why, young one, you should never have greed for gold and gems, and _never_ approach the Lonely Mountain, for a dragon like Smaug will kill you without even a second thought. And if there is one thing a dragon hates more than thieves, it's another dragon." He finished.

She shuddered, remembering the dead eyes of the rabbit. The dragon Kili had mention had done that to all those dwarves? He had just killed them, all to get a bunch of shiny rocks? Kili had taken the life of the rabbit so that they could eat; had Smaug even eaten the dwarves that he had killed? But she had the terrible feeling that he hadn't._ If you're going to kill something, at least make sure that whatever you killed died for a good reason, or at least helps sustain you. Shiny rocks do _not_ sound like a good reason to kill to me._

A sudden tiredness passed over her. She felt as if something was trying to escape from her mouth, and she let it out. "I had no idea that dragon could yawn! It seems to be something all living things must do." Fili chuckled.

The two dwarves got into their sleeping bags, and as darkness took her, she realized that this was what sleep was.

Four weeks had passed since Kili had told the dragonet about Erebor. The mountains that were their destination now loomed above them, and there was no doubt in her mind that Fili and Kili would leave her soon to fend for herself. So far, they seemed to be hoping that she had forgotten their plan, or had been too young to understand it.

She and Kili were crouched behind a patch of bright green ferns, Kili with his bow drawn( The stick with the string, and the Sharprock stick was apparently called an arrow), and her crouching on all fours, watching intently.

The other day, they had witnessed a cougar hunting a rabbit. Kili and Fili had advised her to watch what it did, so that she could learn to hunt for herself. Right now, she was doing a crouch that she had seen the cougar doing before it had sprang and given chase to the rabbit. In front of them was clearing, at the end of which a large, pale sack hung off of a branch. It was a bee's nest.

A week earlier, they had happened across another one, and after shooting it down, Kili, Fili and herself had indulged themselves in the sweet, yellow liquid found on the inside of the nest, which was called honey.

Now, they were going to repeat the same technique they had used to get honey last time. She now played a part in their hunting strategy, as she was incredibly fast for her size and age; faster than the dwarves, at least.

Kili would shoot down the nest, and then she would run across the clearing and into a river that was close by. She wasn't full grown yet, by her scales were already resistant to the bee's stings. The bees would follow her while Fili cut open the nest with a knife to make it uninhabitable, and then when the bees finally left, they would feat on the honey inside.

"Ready?" Kili asked her.

"Ready." She told him.

Kili nodded in the direction that Fili was in, and then let the arrow loose. The nest fell to the ground, and chaos exploded. The dragonet burst out of the undergrowth, dashing across the clearing and towards the river. She could hear the bees buzzing behind her, and she felt one of them try to stab her in the tail with it's sting.

She could tell which way the river was now. She had practiced before they had gone after the nest. She knew that it was now safe for her to close her eyes while she ran. The bees couldn't penetrate her scales, but her eyes were fairly vulnerable.

She sensed the overhang in front of her, and jumped, cold water meeting her. She let herself sink, relaxing her muscles as Fili had told her to. This way, she ran out of air much slower, allowing for more hiding time from the bees.

Soon, the buzzing that she could here from under the water faded, and she paddled up for air. She swam over to the bank of the river, and lay there for a few moments to catch her breath. She was a good swimmer and runner, though Kili had told her it would be a year or two before she could fly.

Though one thought festered in the back of her mind, making her uneasy. According to Fili, most dragons could breathe fire. She had assumed that this was something her parents would have taught here, if she had been born in a nest with other eggs and a normal dragon family to look after her. But she had this other family, not at all normal. If two dwarf brothers and a female dragonet the size of a hare qualified as a family, at least.

But with no other dragons around, there was nobody to teach her how to breathe fire._ Except, there _is_ another dragon around, and he _can_ breathe fire._ She shuddered at the thought of Smaug. But deep inside, she knew that someday, perhaps not for many a year, but someday, she would have to face Smaug, even if it was only to learn the secret of fire-breathing.

'_A dragon like Smaug will kill you without a second thought. If there is one thing a dragon hates more than thieves, it's another dragon._' Kili's word echoed through her mind, and a thrill of terror went down her spine.

_Well, I don't have to worry about Smaug for a long time! _She knew that Fili and Kili were taking her somewhere far away; someplace safe, where Smaug( or anyone else, for that matter) could never find her.

Suddenly, she heard a rustle in the undergrowth. She lifted her head, expecting Fili or Kili, but then she recognized a different scent. It was strange, smelling a bit like the dwarves, but too different all the same.

Suspicion entering her mind, she backed up in the water, submerging herself until only her ears and snout went through the surface. Just as she finished, a tall figure walked out of the forest, and sat by the river to drink. They were like a dwarf, but much, much taller, with pointed ears.

Just then, Fili and Kili burst out of the undergrowth, looking triumphant. Their pride soon faded away as they saw the figure at the river bank. "Who the heck are you!?" Fili exclaimed rudely.

The new person turned to face them, looking more surprised at their rudeness than their poor stalking skills. "I'm a traveler, of course! And I am stopping for a drink, unless you find that at fault as well." The figure replied.

"Well, it would be wise for you to move on. There is tell of a beast in this part of the forest. Dragon-like, I hear, but unable to fly. They say it's a fast runner, so not even you are safe, elf." Kili told the traveler slyly.

_Dirty trickster. That was clever._ She saw the boulders that blocked the "elf" partially from view. She could tell which way the sun was facing, and a plan began to form in her head. She swam slowly to a different part of the river to get a better look at the elf. He seemed to be unarmed. Which meant her plan would work._ Your trick was clever, Kili. But let's see if we can't make it just little more believable, eh?_

She swam to the boulders, clinging onto the side of the largest one by using both of the claws that branched off of her third wing joint. She arrived just in time to catch the rest of the elf's conversation with Fili and Kili. "…Do not believe in monsters. I suggest you go along your way, tricksters!" the elf had burst out.

_We'll see who the trickster is when I'm done with you._ With that, she burst out in between two rocks, so that she couldn't be seen, but her shadow cast down large and mighty on the ground in front of the elf. She hissed (the only noise that she could make without sounding like a newborn hatchling) and reared up on her hind legs, clawing the air.

Fili and Kili ran away dramatically, screaming and yelling, "The beast is here! The beast is here! The beast of the forest is here!" and for a moment, the elf looked up to where the figure who was casting the shadow of the beast should have been logically standing, and turned heel and ran, scooping up his pack as he did so.

The dragonet lowered herself, and then leaped up to stand on top of the largest boulder, her wings spread in pride. "That'll teach you to mess with the beast of the forest" she yelled after the elf's departing figure. _Trickster indeed!_ She though._ Trickster indeed._

**Now, I've seen that A LOT of people have been reading this fic, but there are only a few reviews. Come on people! Now I know you're eager to read more fanfiction, but at least let me know if you enjoy this thing. I'm going to have to stop writing it soon because of school, so I want some reassurance about the enjoyability of my ideas.**


	5. The Mountain Valley

It was late in the evening when they stopped to make camp. Fili had started the fire and was cooking the rat that the dragonet had caught earlier that day. As the smell of roast meat filled the air and the sun began to set, the dragonet and Kili sat waiting for dinner. Kili sucked on a chunk of honey comb, while the dragonet lay down with hers pressed between her two forepaws, licking it with her small, forked tongue and getting honey all over her paws and lower forelegs.

"Now, don't spoil your appetite! I just got done!" Fili exclaimed, looking mournfully at the cooked rat he had just prepared.

"Too late." Kili said, shrugging and holding up his honey-covered hands.

"Oh, my! But she's even worse!" Fili exclaimed, pointing at the dragonet's honey-plastered muzzle, legs, chest and paws. "Go wash that off in the river, both of you! You'll get honey all over your dinner." He ordered.

"Okay, okay, we're going. Don't get your beard in a knot." The dragonet sighed, rolling her eyes and getting to her paws to follow Kili to the river.

She jumped into the river when she got there, soaking Kili. She swam around for a while, drifting in the current from time to time, until she was certain that all of the honey was off. She clambered to the shore and shook herself like a dog, flicking her tail tip violently to get the water off of it.

"Ahh! I'm already wet enough! Do try not to drown me, please." Kili exclaimed as the globs of water from her tail hit him smack in the face.

"Sorry." She apologized sheepishly, flattening her ears to the side of her skull before running up to the camp for the cooked rat the greeted her.

The animal was to be divided among the three of them. The dragonet would get the hind legs, since she was the one who caught the thing. However, it was also no ordinary meal that she had ever had. Since she had hatched, she had been fed with honey and broth that had bits of meat floating around in it for her to swallow. Tonight, she would eat solid meat for the first time since her teeth had begun to grow in. Fili had glazed the rat with a honey coating just for the occasion. Honey was, after all, her favorite treat.

The two hind legs had been set on a plate, haunch and all. Her mouth watered; the two dwarves had told her that the haunch was the meatiest part of an animal. The rest of the rat had been divided among the two brothers, each with a front leg and a shoulder. The head had been thrown out, and there had not been enough meat on the ribs to be worth eating.

She felt a little bad about having more food than the others, but she supposed that they were trying to fatten her up a little for winter, and the many months before it. She had not, despite their thinking she had, forgotten the day that they had found her. This, unbeknownst to her, was a skill all dragons had, which was essential to their survival as a species. She still remembered their plans for the mountain valley. And each day, the mountains loomed over them, more massive than ever before. It hit her with a shock as to how close their journey was to an end. They were, at the moment, camping at the base of the mountain slope. This meant that any day now, she might wake up to find them gone, or they would leave her behind on some rock in the middle of unknown territory.

"You okay?" Fili asked her. She broke out of her trance and shook her head.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just can't believe I'm finally eating solid meat for the first time." She lied. If they knew that she knew, it would only make it harder on them to leave her behind. They spoke so longingly about their family; even their grumpy uncle. She couldn't be that selfish, no matter how much the thought of being alone terrified her.

She walked over to sit next to him, her tail curled around her body so than the tip touched the ankle of her forepaw. Kili walked up to sit at Fili's other side. " Well. Go on." He urged, motioning to the rat legs in front of her._ All right then. Here goes nothing._

She dipped her head and, holding the leg down with one paw, and took a gigantic bite out of the haunch. Flavor exploded in her mouth, and it was as if, even after being cooked, the scents of the forest were entering her mouth. She chewed, indulging in the rich taste (Although she thought it might be better raw) while Fili and Kili laughed their heads off.

"Try to take smaller bites, good grief! You'll choke yourself!" Fili told her breathlessly.

She realized that she had smeared meat all over her nose while she had taken the bite, and she licked it off, putting an end to the laughter.

* * *

It had been three days now since her first meat, and they were now walking through a ravine with two mountains on either side of it. They had spent the last three days struggling up the mountain, and they had nearly fallen off...twice. Since the night she had eaten the rat, the dragonet had taken to catching her own food, as well as Fili and Kili's. She enjoyed hunting.

But she was actually a little bit excited; she had heard Fili and Kili whispering the night before about giving her a name. But she was still terrified about being left behind, even though she knew it was for the better. _Fili and Kili know what they're doing. They're doing this to protect me, and I should be grateful. Besides, it's not goodbye forever; they'll still visit me... won't they?_

It was a question with an answer that she was both afraid of, and longing for. The two brothers weren't like parents at all; it was more as if they were _her_ siblings, although they weren't related. Which raised another question; where were her parents, if she had any, and what had happened to them? She had the most terrible feeling that it had to do with Smaug. And if she had had siblings, what had happened to them? She highly doubted that they had been lucky enough to have a duo of dwarves stumble upon them by accident, as had happened with her.

Whatever had happened, Fili and Kili where her family now, and she couldn't be more proud of having two such people as her friends. She purred, and bounded to catch up with the dwarves. "Well, at least somebody here is happy." Fili stated as she bounded up between them.

"Hey! We've been walking up this freaking mountain for three days straight! I'm surprised you're not complaining, Fili." Kili snapped grumpily.

"Come on now! We're almost there, we'll be done any day now!" she reassured him, nudhing his leg with her muzzle. Then, as she realized what she had said, she dashed off ahead of them, hoping they wouldn't guess that she knew why they were here.

_That was close; too close!_ If they knew she knew, it would probably break their hearts to let her go. And if that happened, they _wouldn't_ let her go, and they would be lost the their families forever, or they would try to bring her to their home. And judging from all the spite Kili told her dwarves had against dragons, she probably wouldn't last five seconds in the brothers' home.

She ran ahead some more to scout around, enjoying the wind in her scales. _If running feels this good, I can't imagine what flying feels like!_ Kili had told her that one day she would be able to fly, just like the birds did. She had never though much about her wings before that. They had been simply, to her, another pair of limbs, and that they were for helping her to climb and balance. She had never dreamed that they could be used for such a feet as flying. To take to the sky, with the wind running over her, and all the scents of the world let loose to her at once. That was what she thought flying would feel like.

"Hey! Get over here! We have to talk to you for a moment." she heard Kili yell behind her. They must have caught up while she was relishing the wind.

She hopped off of the rock she had been standing on while thinking about flying, and walked over to them, a sense of dread spreading across her. Had they found out? Or was this where they left her?

"Fili and I have been thinking... It's about time you had a name." Kili explained.

Her jaw dropped to the ground, excitement and terror running through her equally. A name! Finally, a name! But what if it was a bad one? What if people would laugh at her name? Or what if it was an ugly name? She tensed, staring at them wide-eyed, until Fili finally spoke.

"We've decided that your name will be Arkean. And when I say 'we', I mean mostly him, although I offered a few suggestions."

_Arkean. Arkean! I love it!_ She ran excitedly, making a noise in her throat that she never remembered being able to make. She bounded around the two dwarves, making the new sound as much as possible in her excitement. I was like a sharp, high-pitched, high speed version of a the sound a meerkat makes.

"Okay, okay, settle down then, don't hurt yourself!" Fili warned, and she resigned to walking in between them, stiff-legged, stiff-tailed, and stiff-everything with purring.

Just then, the ravine opened up, and they now stood on a cliff face overlooking a beautiful valley. A river cut through the valley, and the trees were tall and green and fresh. A small part of the valley in the distant west of them was barren, seeming to be a large area made purely up of large, white boulders. A waterfall sprang from a mountain to their east, marking the beginning of the river, which ended at the far end of the valley in a small lake. Mountains surrounded the valley on all sides, and the ravine seemed to be the only way in and out. She could see why they thought it would be a safe place for her to live. It was well protected, and cut off from the rest of the world. If anybody came here, she would be able to see them coming from the ravine, unless there was a hidden entrance that they didn't know about.

"Well, lets get moving. I don't fancy sleeping on this ledge." Fili told them, leading the way through a narrow path that ran along the mountain.

It was more like a long cliff than a path, and there were several points where they had had to flatten themselves against the wall and step on their tip-toes in order to pass. This was especially hard for the newly-named Arkean, who had four paws and not two legs. She had to line up all of her paws and legs, hold her wings above her head, tuck in her tail, suck in her gut to make herself thinner, and drag her head across the wall in order to pass these hard spots.

They were soon down to the ground, and they walked a fair way away from the ravine entrance, until the sun began to set, and they made camp and ate. The dwarves were more quit than usual tonight, and she thought she could guess why; they were leaving tomorrow. They had brought her to the valley of the mountains, and they had had gotten her somewhere safe. There was no need for them to stay with her anymore. They had to return to their family, and their own kind, while she was destined to be here and alone forever. But it wasn't because they were mean; they had spared her life, the life of _her_, of one who was the kind of the one that dwarves hated the most. She was a fire-breather, a man-killer, a child of cattle-burners and greedy hearts, Durin's Bane, the kind of ruiners of cities and slayers of knights. A dragon. A baby dragon, and they of all kinds of people had spared her life. They were good people; her very best friends in the whole world.

Would she try to follow them when they left? Yes. Oh yes, she would. But she knew she couldn't. She yawned, and as Fili poked at the fire absentmindedly, she asked Kili to tell her a story. She didn't hear most of it, because she fell asleep part way through it. And that was the last time she heard the voice of one of her only friends. And It would be a long time before she heard it again.

* * *

Arkean woke with a start. She air was cold, and her blanket was wrapped tightly around her. The work of one of the dwarves, most likely. _The dwarves!_

She scrambled to her paws, looking around frantically. There was nobody else there, and the only signs that they had made camp here were a bundle that seemed to have been accidentally left behind, the burnt out fire pit, and, of course, herself.

Horrified, she launched herself out of the blanket, and scrambled to the top of the nearest tree. Once at the top, she looked in all directions, breathing in large gasps, hoping above hope to see any sign of her friends. Then, finally, she saw them. On the cliff in front of the ravine, two figures stood, seeming to be looking out over the valley. Her thoughts race through her head, searching for a way to communicate with them; to say goodbye, to say that she was safe, to say all the things that she had ever spoken to them and never would.

Then, resolutely, she flared her wings in and out, remembering the way her scales glittered when the sun hit them. In and out she flared her wings, faster, slower, wider, longer, until, at last, she saw one, then both of the figures raise one hand, as if to say goodbye. She flared her wings one more time, holding them in place this time, at an angle that would make the sun reflect in the direction of the ravine. The figures lowered their hands, and slowly began to walk away and out of sight.

As soon as she saw them no more, Arkean, the dragonet spared by the dwarves Fili and Kili, the dragonet that had been born with such a loyalty to two individuals that had never been seen before, lifted her muzzle to the sky, and let out a horrible, grievous, mournful, roaring cry that echoed through the valley and beyond the mountains, to where hobbits dwelled, elves raced through the forest, men built their cities, dwarf lords mined in the mountain, and a dragon lay on his bed of gold. And all who heard it wondered, ' what creature could endure this pain without dying? '.


End file.
